Evaporator



April 13, 1926.

WITNESSES T 2 2 Shuts-Shoe. 1

Lima/4. 301.

April 13,1926.-

J. A. PAUL EVAPORATOR Filed April 29,. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet "MENTOR dam/4.6

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS:

I To all whom it may concern:

in the county of Kings and Stateof New Patented Apr. 13, 1926.

' JOHN anmmsou mm, or BROOKLYN, new Your. I

nvaronA'ron.

Application filed April" 29, 1931. Serial no. 465,362.

1 Be it known that I, JOHN A. PAUL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of thecity of New York, borough of Brooklyn,

York, have invented anew and Improved Evaporator, of which the'following is a full, clear, and exact description.

" This invention relates to evaporators and has particular reference to a simple and.

eflicient evaporator for use in marine operations where salt water must be evaporated to provide fresh water for steam boilers and for other purposes. I

An object of the invention is to provide a simple, efficient, strong and compact apparatus capable of evaporating a maximum amount "ofsea'water per unit 'of'time and requiring a minimum amount of stoppage for the purpose of cleaning theevaporator.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means whereby the pressure relations between the interior of the evaporator and any apparatus to which it is connected, such as a vacuum condenser, is regulated automatically by a spring-controlled valve. 7

A further object resides in the provision of means wherebythe pressure within the evaporator is automatically released by a resilient head whenever the pressure exceeds a certain definite amount.

' A still further object resides in the provision of means whereby all joints or seams of the lining are located beneath the level of the water contained within the evaporator. Anotherobjectresides in the provision of means whereby this evaporator is continually draining itself of salt matter and can at any instant be very quickly drained of the residue. i I y A further object resides in the provision of means whereby incoming salt water is 7 preliminarily heated so that the maximumv amount of the heat from the steam is ex.

tracted and putto an efiicient use.

' A still further object resides in the particular construction and arrangement of parts which are hereinafter described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings. j-

The invention is illustrated in the draw 'ings, of which-- Figure 1 1s a vertical section taken on the line 1+1 of Figure 2;

joint 18 are Figure 2 is a transverse section taken the line 22 of Figure 1; and I Figure 3 is a side elevation of the preheater for the salt Water. 1 The preferred embodiment ofmy invention, as shown in the drawings, comprises a cylindrical drum of any suitable material 1,

PATENT OFFICE. v

such as .cast iron, which'at one end is open as at 2.. This open end is adapted tobe provided with a steel, curved spring head, such as 3. This head has an aperture through which a bolt 4 passes. One'end of the bolt 4 is fastened by nuts 5 and 6 to'the closed, rigid end of the drum,-whereas the other end of'the bolt 4 is fastened by a nut 8 to the spring head 3. w This spring head is so designed and constructed as to form a very tight steam and liquidproof joint or closure for this end'of the drum. vAt the same time, however, when the pressure within the drum'exceeds a predeterminedamount,'preferably about twenty-five pounds, this spring head gives an amount suflicient to release thispressure. L Q I- This drum is mounted onsuitabl'e pedestals or legs such as 9. Above the drum 1 is. arranged-as part of the. casting a dome 10 in which the vapors from the salt water '11 are confined. This dome is provided with spaced flange supports, such as 12, adapted to support a conical or otherwise suitably shaped bafileplate 13. This bafile'plateis disposed between the salt water 11 and an outlet passage 14 and prevents the water from splashing out through the'passage14. To thisdome is attached a safety valve, such as 15', of any suitable type, and a T joint 16.

This T joint connects at oneside to an outlet ipipe 1.7. This outlet may: lead to any suitable apparatus, such as the fresh-water tanks on the boat, or any other suitable de vice. 'Above this T'joint 16 is disposed another T 18 with which the outlet passage 19 of the joint 16 and the passage 20 of the aligned -"A valve seat 21 is provided. adjacent the passage, 20 and .on this seat a valve 22 is adaptedto bedisposed having depending guide "fingers, such as 23., A valve stem-24: extends upwardly through an exteriorly threade'd'plug 25 disposed in an aperture in'the cover 26 of the 'T joint'18. This valve stem threadably engages the plug 25 as shown 1n Figure 1.

The upper end of the stem is surrounded by agland 27. of any suitable type and is also provided with a handle 28 whereby the valve may be positively closed. The stem l is not positively connected to the valve 22,

and when drawn away therefrom by the manipulation of the handle 28 the valve will only be raised from its seat by the pressure within the evaporator acting against the action of the spring 81. On the upper side of the valve a washer orplate 29 is disposed, and on the lower end of the plug a washer 30 is disposed. Between these washers or plates a spring 31 extends and tends normally to keep the valve 22 on i s seat. This spring can be adjusted by the movement of the plug 25. to any degree of. tension whereby the valve 22 will not open excepting when a definite pressure is reached within the evaporator. In this manner, therefore, the passage of the vapors from the drum 1 through the dome 1O into-the condenser by way of the pipe 32 is automatically regulated by the movement-of the valve 22.

As designated by the numeral 11, the sea water isallowed to flow into the drum to the level indicated. This sea water comes into the drum by the following path: through pipe 33 into a preheating cylinder 34;, and from the other end of the cylinder through pipe 35 by check valve 36 and then through pipe 37 into the drum 1. This preheating cylinder 3% contains a coil, such as 38, of piping through which steam is adapted to pass. This steam flows through the coil 38, and enters the coil from the pipe 39 and leaves the coil by way of a pipe 40, where it may pass to any suitable receiver. The pipe 39 at its other end is connected to the base of the drum in which a passage such as ll is located. This passage is associated with an exhaust manifold casting l2. This casting extends on one side of the drum, longitudinally of the same, and is provided with a longitudinally extending passage 43. A. plurality of steam coils, one of which is represented by the numeral r4. in Fig. 2, are connected at their exhaust end to the manifold 412 and at the other end to a similar manifold 4-5 connected to the oppositeside of the drum and extending longitudinally thereof. This manifold l5 is connected to a passage 4-6 in the casting to which a pipe 47 leads. This pipe 4'? is the inlet pipe for the steam which generally is led from the boiler. The manifold castings 42 and &5 ar suitably bolted, as by bolts -16 and L7, to the base of the drum. The set screws 48 and 49 may be adjusted to tighten the castings on their base, and when these castings are taken out,a clear passage is formed for cleaning purposes." The level of the sea water permitted to enter the receptacle is in-- cheated in the drawing and is normally of such height as to dispose the bolt a and all the connections and joints between the steam pipes and their manifold beneath the level of the water, so that if it should happen that an 'steain leaks out itwill be efficient in heating the sea water. ater-level gauges such as 50 and 51 are in any well-known manner associated with the side of the drum 1. to indicate the level of the water therein. Atone end, near the bottom of the drum 1, there is provided an outlet aperture 52 through which the solid residue of the sea water may be discharged. In this aperture a funnel-shaped casting is disposed having a discharge pipe therein. This casting is adapted to be closed by a similarly shaped plug This plug is provided with an interior bore 56 and with a large opening 57 in one side and a smaller opening or bore 58 on the opposite side. By turning the plug around within the funnel-shaped casting 53, the interior of the drum can be connected to the outlet pipe 54 either through the large or small opening 57 or 58, as the case may be. If the large bore 57 is registering, the steam pressure within the drum will blow out the solid matter very quickly; whereas, if the small port 58 is registering, the steam pressure within the drum will blow out the solid matter continuously and not so quickly. Itis generally preferable in the use of the. apparatus tohave the small bore in alignment quite frequently, so that the solid matter is blown out more or less continuously during the operation of the evaporator. When this casting 53 is removed it will be observed that an aperture is provided through which the bottom of the drum can be cleaned. It is also to be observed that by removing the head 3 and the bolts 46 and 47, the manifold and all the pipeswithin the apparatus can be very readily removed, whereby the whole device can be cleaned in a short time.

This evaporator may be of a sufiici-ent size to evaporate forty-five tons of salt water in twenty-four hours, or a rate of approximately 487 gallons per hour. The shell ordinarily contains thirty gallons, of which there would be probably five pounds of solid matter in one hour. The residue from the evaporation of sea water contains approximately 20% of carbonate of lime, sulphate of lime, magnesium sulphate, magnesium chloride and silica and 80% of salt. The 20% solid matter tends to form a hard scale at forty pounds of pressure of steam at 290 temperature; therefore, with the self-cleaning arrangement it is practically constantly in operation, the scale formation in the evaporator is kept very low and this evaporator can, therefore, be run from day to day without stopping. Sea water boils at 213.2 F. Therefore, to obtain a five pound pres sure in the evaporator, which is the normal pressure desired, the drains from the coils 44 leading into the preheater 34 should be about 222 when leavingzthecoils. Bypassing this steam through the preheater, it

raises the" sea water almost to boiling point, according to the temperature of the sea water, thereby reducing.- the cost of evaporation about 80%;

The features of this evaporator which are important and which make it particularly superior and'practical are, first, theflexible steel safety door, allowing the boiler pressure to be released when the maximum limit is obtained; second, the self-closing, nonreturn spring valve in the head of the dome connecting with the vacuum condenser;-

third, theautomatic bottom discharge valve forblowing out the condenser continuously; the preheater for the feed supply:

fourth,

water operated by the exhaust from the coils; fifth, the baffle plate disposed in the bottom to prevent the splashing of liquid through the exhaust port; and sixth, the arrangement of the apparatus wherebythe entire interior contents can be removed very quickly to clean the drum.

'lVhat I claim is:

1. An evaporator comprisinga cylindrical drum havmg an open end, a cylindrical said end, and afastening connection between the center of the cover and the drum for holding the cover in lace, thecharacter of the material permittlng the edges of said cover to yield when the pressure within the evaporator exceeds a predetermined amount, whereby the pressure may be relieved to prevent the destruction of the evaporator.

JOHN J ANDERSON PAUL.

curved spring metal cover adapted to closesald end, and means for holding said cover in place, the edges only of said cover adapted curved spring metal cover adapted to close 1 

